Scene and Heard: Scene's News Blog

12 Dead in Six Days: Heroin, Fentanyl Overdoses in Cuyahoga County

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office has essentially been backed into a routine of sending out regular updates on the skyrocketing number of local opiate overdose deaths. It's a tragic cycle, and one that's built up a thick and banal workload. (The medical examiner's office tells Scene that autopsy reports for the many overdose deaths in March and April so far won't be complete "for months.")

Between March 30 and April 4, 12 Cuyahoga County residents died of an opiate overdose; heroin and fentanyl — or a combination of the two — are suspected.

This isn't the first time that we and other local media outlets have reported on a weeklong smattering of overdose deaths.

Scene reported last month on the variety of treatment options that are being used to combat the exploding opiate epidemic in Northeast Ohio — a spectrum of legal efforts aimed at reducing the scourge of addiction.